in anticipation for some warm beach days this summer, i made a simple wrap around beach cover up.
simply modish has a really nice video tutorial here.
this was an easy, hand-sewn project that i mostly did sitting on the couch watching hgtv. i've posted only a few pictures of some of the steps below; i recommend watching the video first for the full tutorial as her directions are nice and straightforward.
to make this yourself, you want to purchase enough fabric, roughly 1.5 times the circumference of your hips.
i bought a yard of pink jersey knit fabric (because the width of 54") from joann's for this purpose, which was regularly priced at $13 a yard, but i saved some bucks by using a coupon.
if you don't have a lot of experience with knits, be aware that it shrinks. 54" would have been perfectly fine for me if it hadn't shrunk several inches, but i was too cheap to purchase more fabric-- as it would have been, at that point, cheaper to buy one of these online somewhere. even with the shrinkage, it fits fine, however, it doesn't drape as much as i would like.
it is also normally recommended that you wash your fabric before you use it. for this project, i would actually recommend that you not, as knits tend to curl at the edges and it will just make the cutting process annoying. since you're not sewing anything complicated, i would just skip that step and wash your beach wrap after you've made it.
first cut out the arm holes. i used a salad plate to cut out the arm holes using my rotary cutter. you could also use a tank top you have as a guide. you should be cutting one arm hole on each side (on the longer edge).
from the bottom (opposite side from the armholes), cut the strips to make the straps. i eyeballed the width of the strips, and they were probably only .5 inch thick each at most (width of 54"). i found that three strips braided all together was more than enough to make two straps.
take one of the edges where the armhole was cut, and tuck it through part of the braid. pull the edge out far enough so you can fold it over the knot.
hand sew around the knot to secure the strap. repeat with the other end of the strap, and then do the same on the other armhole. and you're done.
it should look something like this.
i haven't made it to the beach yet, but i've been wearing it around the house a lot... because, it's just so comfy.
